Much Ado About Nothing
by kkurtenbach5
Summary: ONE SHOT. From a prompt by tumblr user terapsina. About a month after Bass catches Connor and Charlie in New Vegas, Charlie catches a stomach bug. Hilarity ensues. There is swearing, but nothing stronger. Assumed Miles/Rachel.


**A/N: This is based on a prompt from tumblr user terapsina. Just, my hand slipped.**

Bass watched as Charlie bolted from the house that they just cleared. They were supposed to be finding another safe house because their group could no longer fit in one. Bass turned to follow Charlie outside, albeit much slower than she had.

He trotted down the steps of the back porch of the old Victorian that was somehow still standing despite its rundown appearance, looking every which way to see where if he could find where Charlie had run off to. His ears picked up the sound of her puking and he picked up the pace, searching for the source of the sound.

He found Charlie on her knees heaving. A few feet away he could see, and smell, the remains of the lunch that they had had. Bass felt the annoyance creeping up through his neck. This was the fourth time in the past two days. As he turned away he reached back to his neck in attempt to relieve the tension knots forming there. He froze suddenly as the memory of finding Charlie and Connor in New Vegas flashed through his head. The blood drained from his face. What if? No. She would've been careful. Right? She was no idiot. Right?

"Hey. Ready to go?," Charlie walked up behind him. As she came around him and saw his face she added, "You okay?"

Bass wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. And just looked at her.

"Okay then. Let's go," Charlie said as she started walking back towards the safe house where Rachel, Miles, and Gene were. Well, at least Gene.

Bass followed her silently. He was having trouble focusing. He felt like the world was crumbling. Charlie couldn't be. Not _pregnant_. What was going to happen? Did she know how dangerous it was? Bass tamped down the anxiety that was causing his stomach to roil as he felt the icy tendril of fear continue its creep up his spine.

His default anger that he felt kicked in, stopping the fear in its tracks but not erasing it. Saving himself from his mind, in which he was already watching Charlie getting covered by dirt in the bottom of a hole. Not only was she pregnant, but with Connor? His own son. He wasn't ready to be a grandfather. Connor sure as shit wasn't ready to be a father. Why wasn't he careful? Charlie was going to have to pay the consequences because his idiot son couldn't pull out.

Bass was whipped from his (rather pointless) introspection when her ran into Charlie. As he stumbled backwards she turned on him and hissed, "what are you doing?"

Bass just shook his head slowly before continuing walking in the direction that they had been headed in. He had to get back to ask Connor. He had to be sure before going to Charlie. If he was wrong he'd never hear the end of it from Charlie.

««»»

Upon arriving back to the safe house Bass immediately went to find Connor. Charlie was so conveniently puking in a bush a couple of dozen of yards back. Bass' eyes roved over the scattered men on the porch easily singling out his son. Bass dropped his pack next to where Connor was sitting and gripped his shoulder curtly telling him to follow and storming through and out the back door of the safe house. He didn't stop until he was about 100 yards from the house

Bass waited for Connor to get to him and turned on him, glaring, absolutely livid. "In New Vegas, were you and Charlie careful?"

Connor just stared back confused.

"Did you fucking pull out? Is there any chance that she's pregnant?"

The blood drained out of Connor's face then, and Bass saw Connor's eyes roll back right before he hit the dirt. Out cold.

««»»

Miles walked towards the safe house with Rachel at his side. He better hope that Charlie and Bass were more successful then he and Rachel were. Granted, they hadn't been searching for a new safe house very hard. He saw Charlie sitting off to the side with her men.

"Where's Bass?" Charlie just shrugged. One of her men pointed through the house, adding, "Out back."

Miles went off to find them, looking nervous and not trusting what he might find, as Rachel went to find Gene in the house.

Miles approached Bass and Connor just as Bass slapped Connor awake.

"What's going on?" Miles somehow managed to look both annoyed and hopelessly confused.

"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out." Bass said, looking up at Miles from were he was crouching on the ground next to Connor's stirring form. He helped Connor come up into a sitting position. Miles could hear Connor muttering the word no continuously under his breath.

"What's up with the kid?," Miles questioned, not sure if he actually wanted the answer or not.

"You know when we went to New Vegas to get Charlie's men? Well, I had the – unfortunate experience of walking in on Connor and Charlie after... well you were in your twenties once too." Bass trailed off lamely. Not exactly sure where to go. He still couldn't admit it to himself

Miles saw red. He lunged at the kid, Bass just barely able to divert him so his son wasn't being throttled. "Miles," Bass yelled redirecting Miles' rage onto himself.

"How could you let this happen?" Miles yelled in Bass' face. Bass visibly flinched, looking flustered and almost hurt.

"Hey, she's a grown woman. She does what she wants." Bass added much more softly under his breath, "and who."

Bass stood away from Miles still looking upset, but a bit more unsure of himself. He stood for a couple seconds trying to formulate what he was going to say. He cleared his throat, and looked directly into Miles' eyes before continuing. "With how Charlie's been acting, she might be pregnant."

Bass watched Miles closely. He had seen his friend's eyes widen as Miles turned away from him. Miles turned around, pacing furiously back and forth. Glaring at Connor.

"And you guys are sure?" Miles bit out angrily.

"We were trying to figure that out when you so conveniently showed up. It's definitely a possibility." Bass answered him, moving to stand next to where Miles had stopped. He joined Miles' glare at Connor, though his had concern behind it as well, whereas Miles stared down at him with pure rage.

"What where you thinking?" Miles raged down at Connor. 

"We were careful. I think. I don't remember. I was a little busy at the time."

Bass hit Connor upside the head. "Have some respect." He couldn't help his reaction, even though it earned him a strange look from Miles.

"So, are we going to assume that she is then?," Miles questioned the other to men. He didn't want to believe that this was true. Why hadn't Charlie said anything about Connor? How could she hide it from him? They used to be so close. How was she able to keep it a secret from him?

"Well, we should keep an eye on her. See if any other symptoms come up. But from the look on his face I'd say it's a good bet." Bass said before turning his eyes exasperatedly up to the sky. He just barely managed to avoid throwing his hand up to the air. He felt angry and confused and, shit, that was jealousy. He couldn't be jealous of his son. And definitely not of his son with Charlie.

Miles nodded slowly. "Okay," he sighed, "but kid, I swear to God if I hear about you fucking my niece again I will kill you. Slowly."

««»»

Meanwhile...

Rachel found Gene in one of the rooms upstairs at the house.

"What's been going on here?," Rachel asked as soon as she stepped into the door frame of the room he was in.

"Charlie's sick," Gene answered, "Just a stomach bug. Nothing to worry about in the old days, but now we have to make sure she stays hydrated. If she looses too many fluids then she's in trouble."

"Well, I'll go get some water then. Start boiling it so she can rehydrate. Thanks Dad," Rachel said as she left the room.

««»»

The next week was tense. Miles was "stealthily" glaring at Connor every chance that he could and all of them were giving Charlie a ridiculous amount of attention. So much in fact that Charlie started spending time with her remaining men as opposed to be around any of the men in their family. Or she tried to avoid them. They wouldn't really let her out of their sight.

Granted, Bass seemed to be moving around in a fog. He looked enraged one second then like a lost puppy the next. He would look at Charlie with concern then not be able to look at her at all. He couldn't believe that she was... with his son... When Bass felt how he felt about her. He couldn't handle how he felt about her. He didn't know what he was going to do.

Connor looked nauseous basically all of the time. He wouldn't talk to Charlie that week. At first it hurt, but she was so miserably sick that she thought it was just because she was puking multiple times a day.

And almost worse, her mom was basically shoving water down her throat every time she was around. Which since Miles and her mom were basically connected at the hip these days, Miles was always there to see that. After which he would glare at Connor even more intensely. And of course, the other men just took that as another sign that Charlie was expecting.

««»»

After about two days Rachel overheard Bass talking to Miles about Charlie. She stayed hidden while she heard their furious whispers about what they were going to when Charlie and Connor's baby arrived. Rachel shook her head in confusion. Charlie wasn't pregnant. Then t clicked. She barely stifled her laugh as she turned back around in the hallway she had been standing in just inside a doorway. She went to find her father.

Upon reaching her father Rachel immediately said, "They think she's pregnant."

Gene stared confusedly at his daughter for a second before his face broke out in a huge smile. He started laughing so hard he was out of breath. "Really?," he asked Rachel with tears streaming down his face.

"Really," she returned along with his laughter.

The next few days were fun for them.

««»»

Around a week after she got sick, Charlie stopped puking. Rachel stopped pouring water down her throat. For all intents and purposes, Charlie was fine.

««»»

Three days after she got better Miles went up to Charlie. The three of them had been suspicious about the sudden changes in her actions.

"You okay kid?," he approached her tentatively.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Nothing I should be concerned about? Say in about eight months time?"

That got him a skeptical look. "What? You think I'm pregnant."

Charlie broke off and started laughing. Miles looked uncomfortable and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"So I guess that's a no then."

He turned on his heel to inform Bass and Connor that they were in the clear. For now.


End file.
